Join us for our popular monthly meeting for the November "Conversations at The Crocker"  Follows is the press release.

 

How we have dealt with water woes, the coastline, wildlife and development over the years and where are we now?  The environment is the subject of a Conversation at The Crocker on Tuesday,  November 11, 2014 starting at 7 p.m. in the Crocker Memorial Church located in Pioneer Park organized and presented by the Historical Society of Sarasota County and sponsored by SARASOTA Magazine.

 

This public conversation is free to HSOSC members and students, Guests - $10.  Proceeds help maintain the two historic properties at Pioneer Park, the Bidwell-Wood House (1882) and the Crocker Memorial Church (1901).

 

"Many of us moved to the Sarasota area for the climate, the beaches, to boat on the bay, fish in the Gulf of Mexico, and enjoy beautiful Old Florida rural serenity." said Howard Rosenthal, President of HSOSC.  "But, this part of Florida has a fragile environment and challenges to it are increasing as the county grows and struggles to support increased development.  There are water issues, conservation of resources and decreasing habitats for wildlife.  At this Conversation we'll hear from four experts about what our environmental challenges have been in the past and what they are now."  On stage will be Julie Morris, Jon Thaxton, Becky Ayech and Glenn Compton.

 

Julie Morris came to Sarasota in 1970 to attend New College and focus on Environmental Studies.  She led the Florida Sierra Club in the 1980's and was active in Sarasota and Florida issues related to the coast, wetlands, rivers and wildlife.  In the 1990's she was a Commissioner of the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission and was the first Chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  Morris managed fish in the Gulf of Mexico for nine years as a member of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.  She has worked at New College, first as co-director with Jono Miller of the New College Environmental Studies Program, and now as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs.

  

Jon Thaxton is a fourth generation Floridian who was born near Osprey and began working at his family's real estate business at age 14.  He is a former Sarasota County Commissioner and currently Gulf Coast Community Foundation Director of Community Investment.  He began his environmental advocacy at Venice High School in 1974 as a founding member of the Ecology Club and has never stopped championing the environment.  Thaxton was awarded the 1,000 Friends of Florida State Growth Management Award and twice named the Nature Conservancy's Grassroots Activist of the Year.  In 1996 he was featured in National Geographic for his work in preserving endangered species.  Jon Thaxton is respected throughout Florida as a leading advocate for protecting the natural environment.

 Becky Ayech has lived in Miakka (oldest settlement in Sarasota County), for 34 years.  She has served as the president for the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida and president of the Miakka Community Club, a civic organization which preserves and maintains the rural way of life in Miakka as well as a 100 year old Schoolhouse.  She is immediate past chair of Fisheating Creek Settlement Advisory Board, a former member of Sarasota County Planning Commission, policy consultant for Florida Water Coalition and co-founder of the SWFWMD Environmental Committee.  Becky and her husband own a sustainable farm where they raise sheep, chickens, vegetables and fruit.

 

Glenn Compton is chairman of ManaSota-88, past member of the Venice Environmental Advisory Committee, past supervisor with the Sarasota Soil and Water Conservation District and Venice High School Science teacher for 30 years.  ManaSota-88 is a Florida non-profit organization created in 1968.  Its environmental protection efforts protecting the public's health and preservation of the environment span more than 40 years.  The organization's commitment to safeguard the air, land and water quality is aggressive and uncompromising.  Operating revenues are derived totally from private citizens.